7th
Why Jesus Was Crucified
I found another good explanation of why Jesus was crucified here. It says that the people of Palestine had been desperately hoping that the long-awaited Messiah would appear and free them from Roman oppression. And even though Jesus didn’t publicly call himself the Messiah, many people believed that he was. This caused the Jewish religious authorities to worry that he might take control of the crowds and usurp their power. But they didn’t want the general public to blame them for his death, so they influenced the Romans to think that he was a political agitator, knowing that he would be crucified as a result.
This same website also contains some related articles, including discussions of why Judas betrayed Jesus, the role of Pontius Pilate, and an odd similarity between Jesus and the released prisoner Barabbas.
